Telemarketing has increased exponentially in recent times. Many people targeted by telemarketers do not desire to receive or answer the telemarketing calls. Thus, it is desirable in the art to provide a method and apparatus that may be used to block telemarketing calls.
One method for preventing some telemarketing calls is to have your telephone number removed from the dialing list of the telemarketer. This method, however, involves effort and is only partially effective because new calling lists are constantly generated which reestablish your number as a target.
Another method to block calls is to simply take your phone off the hook when telemarketing calls are undesired. Such a method is undesirable because the method does not permit desired calls to be connected and received. The method also causes the phone to emit a loud off-hook warning signal that may annoy the owner of the phone. Instead of leaving the phone off the hook, a person may use an answering machine or a caller identification device to screen calls. Both of these methods are undesirable because some people do not leave messages, and some numbers cannot be identified by the caller identification device.
In view of these deficiencies, other devices have been developed in the art to permit selective blocking of calls. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,467,388 discloses a method and apparatus for selectively blocking incoming calls. The patent discloses an apparatus that may be programmed to selectively block calls either by time block or by number. The user must, however, spend time to program the system and remember to activate it when the blocking function is desired. Such steps are generally undesired due to the effort required by the user. Thus, a method and apparatus that automatically blocks calls placed from a predictive dialing telemarketing system is highly desirable. Further, the method and apparatus should not require any preprogramming or activation steps. Also, the system must allow desired calls to be connected while still blocking undesired calls.
To more fully understand the concepts of the present invention, it should be understood that most large-scale automated telemarketing systems use predictive or auto-dialers to place the phone calls. These dialers obtain a number to be called from a computer database and place the telemarketing calls for the operator. If a call is connected and a live person responds, the system immediately connects the call to a salesperson operator or solicitor who makes a presentation. If the line is unanswered, busy, or answered by an answering machine, the system flags the number and returns to the number at a later time and recalls it. In this manner, the telemarketing system continues to call all programmed numbers until a live person answers. The system also does not waste time having the operator place unanswered calls.
In other situations where the called number has been disconnected or is otherwise no longer in service, the system removes the number from its computer database. The computer differentiates the status of the number by recognizing Special Information Tones (SITs) used in the U.S. telephone network. The network uses the SITs to provide information to computers in the network. SITs are three precise, sequential tones used to identify recorded announcements provided for ineffective call attempts in the telephone network. There are seven major SIT types known as SIT1 through SIT7. A telemarketing system is designed to maximize outbound calls and maximize completed calls. Thus, most quality telemarketing systems are designed to recognize SITs. One of the most common SITs is SIT2 which is the intercept SIT. The intercept SIT is used to describe an uncompleted call attempt due to a nonworking number. The intercept SIT begins with a tone of 913.8 Hz that is played for 274 milliseconds. This tone is followed by a second tone of 1370.6 Hz played for 274 milliseconds and completed with a third tone at 1776.7 Hz played for 380 milliseconds. When this SIT is received by a telemarketing system using a predictive dialer, the system notes that the number called is non-working and removes it from its database so that it will not be called again.
Thus, it is desirable to provide a method and apparatus for creating an imitation intercept SIT and sending this imitation signal in response to all incoming calls to a person's telephone number, thereby causing any predictive dialing telemarketing system to disconnect the call and remove the person's number from the telemarketing system's database.